I have always been an avid traveler, and since becoming a mom, a budget traveler, so that I can still travel with a family of five regularly. Even with all my travels and knowledge, I have recently learned more about credit card points and brand loyalty programs. I actually learned about them when booking a hotel for my parents for a family wedding and my mom said, “Make sure I get my points toward my free stay.” I agreed and booked them separately, but then signed myself up too. I figured I’d get a free night well before my mom, since she’s not much of a traveler. What I didn’t realize was that I’d open my whole world up to travel hacking ideas and using credit cards and loyalty points for free travel and benefits.
You don’t have to have a business or go into credit card debt to bank enough points to make it worth it…in fact you need to keep a healthy credit score to be approved for cards! A great way to get into this travel hobby is to start with hotels and become loyal to a brand or two. The big three chain hotels with hotel programs are Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt and Hyatt is the obvious choice for best perks. Hyatt hotel stays are SIGNIFICANTLY less expensive in points and they offer all inclusive and 5-star resorts in incredible locations. The same type of location redemptions for Hilton and Marriott can’t complete, they require 4x, 5x, or more points for a compatible room with less opportunity for suite upgrades and extra free nights. For those of us in the points and miles world, Hyatt is the company of choice.
Hyatt hotels are growing (they just announced a collaboration with the Mr. & Mrs. Smith brand of boutique hotels), but not everywhere or as prevalent as some of the bigger chain hotels. There are two lesser thought of brands that are a bit less fancy, but locations are literally everywhere…even off the highway in the middle of Kansas, I’ve stayed there! Comfort Inn, Quality Inn and Holiday Inn hotels seem to be located on every highway exit across the United States. These simple accommodations are great choices for simple travels like road trips, airport hotels and kids travel sports and they have rewarding loyalty programs that you can turn your points into swanky city hotels and beautiful beachfront resorts of your dreams.
Choice Hotels
Cambria Hotels, the Radisson brand, Ascend hotels, Park Plaza, Country Inn & Suites, Woodspring and Mainstay Suites are all brands that fall under the Choice hotels and new brands are added all the time. There are discussions that Wyndham properties are going to be acquired by Choice brand in the near future. That will add many more budget, luxury and resorts to the Choice Hotels rewards to the over 1,500 properties currently available. There are over 25 million Choice Privileges® members who use the benefits of the program. They boast about offering flex points, so each person can choose if they would like to use them on free travel redemptions or money back in terms of gift cards and shopping portals. For me this is an easy decision, I would always rather use points for travel because I get a better value. You can sign up for the program for free to track your points, redeem your points and even buy points. Save buying points during great sales where they offer additional points. I will do this even if I don’t have a specific trip I need them for yet, but it’s always good to have a bank of points waiting for our next adventure. Choice Privileges® points never expire, as long as you remain an active member. You can earn free nights for fewer points when you book during non-peak times, which can be different from weekends to weekdays depending on the location of the property. The quickest way to earn points is by opening their credit card and spending the minimum spend in the first 3 months for the sign-up bonus. Currently the sign up bonus is 60,000 points and does not often get higher than this for the card. This is definitely less points than many other cards are offering for sign-up bonuses, and probably why it is not a more popular card. Card holders can also earn points by referring the card to friends and family.
Choice Hotel properties include Comfort Inn and Quality Inn, as well as some simpler brands like Econo Lodge and Rodeway Inn (which I do not book). When doing road trip travel, I want places that are right off the highway, and I always look outside of a major city. 10-20 miles from the city center can be a huge cost difference, especially for a short overnight stay. Last summer, we drove from Colorado to South Florida and back booking Comfort and Quality Inn accommodations each night across Georgia, Tennassee, Missouri and Kansas. We had good stays that were clean and provided a great breakfast for my crew of teenage boys to fill up on in the morning, before we hit the road each day. Some of these hotels were recently updated and had nice floors and fresh paint, while others were dated, but still clean. I also banked points, having booked two rooms per stay, that quickly turned into free nights.
In Colorado, and the West in general, there are lots of good options in the Choice Hotel brand. Ken and I or the whole family have stayed at most of these hotels over the past five years of living out here in Colorado (haven’t stayed at the Ameristar, but have visited it for gambling, spa and restaurants). I encourage others planning trips out here to try some of these budget hotels and save their money for experiences and food rather than accommodations, while banking points for stays at future Choice hotels.
- Ameristar Resort, Casino and Spa in Blackhawk
- Comfort Suites Summit County in Dillion
- Winter Park Mountain Lodge
- Quality Inn and Suites Vail Valley
- Comfort Inn at Vail Beaver Creek
- Quality Inn Ouray
- Comfort Inn and Quality Inn Glenwood Springs
- Comfort Inn and Quality Inn Zion, UT
- Quality Inn and Suites Casper, WY
- Comfort Inn Yellowstone, WY
In addition to the US West, there are numerous beautiful properties in the Caribbean on the islands of St. Maarten, Aruba, Cayman Island and the Bahamas. In Aruba, the property has suites and private villas that have multiple bedrooms and kitchens. There are even hotel shuttles that will stop at grocery stores and markets so that cooking and snacking are just a little less expensive. Not everyone likes to cook on vacation, but I do enjoy it. I love having access to markets and local produce, cheese and seafood especially. When you are staying in a traditional hotel room, I’m limited to snacking items, but we often stay in family places with kitchens and then I can make a few dinners. There are times when traveling with a family, the kids get tired and need to just have a night in and those are the best times to make dinner in the suite or apartment. In addition to having breakfast on the run, the ingredients to make a beach or park picnic and snacking options for kids always keeps costs down compared to eating every meal out. For those looking for luxury accommodations the new elevated travel experience has over 300+ preferred hotels and resorts. In the Caribbean, Condado Vanderbilt Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico and Half Moon in Montego Bay, Jamaica are both a part of this luxury collection that can be booked reasonably with 60,000-90,000 points or less per night.
There are additional Preferred Hotels and Resorts both domestically and around the globe. The Broodmore in Colorado Springs is a resort set on the idyllic shores of Cheyenne Lake in the Southern Rocky Mountains. Wort Hotel in Jackson, Wyoming is another amazing mountain resort that would be great for skiing or any winter sports, but also beautiful in the summer months. Chateau Elan is a grand château experience with its own vineyard in Braselton (near Atlanta), Georgia. This golf and spa retreat has amazing food and restaurants to choose from formal French cuisine to casual pub and golf club eats, you never need to leave this resort. Another fantastic location in the South is The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort on Kiawah Island South Carolina for a golf and beach experience. Traveling down to Florida, The Seagate Hotel & Spa in Delray Beach, FL offers a wonderful beach location with a bustling street of shopping, restaurants and bars intersecting the beach. The Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, near Miami and numerous other Miami Beach hotels like the Palms Hotel & Spa or Trump International Beach Resort can all be booked on Choice points. Finally, down in the Florida Keys the Hawks Cay Resort on Duck Key in the Florida Keys and Oceans Edge Resort & Marina in Key West are known for their ocean views and amazing sunset culture.
To test your luck in Las Vegas, Green Valley Ranch Resort and Red Rock Casino Resort Spa are both just off the strip, which make them an amazing value for these full service resorts and just a quick cab ride to everything the Strip has to offer. However, the casinos in these resorts are where the Vegas locals go when they want to win. In Hawaii there are two luxury resorts on the island of Oahu at the Halepuna Waikiki and Alohilani Resort Waikiki Beach or if you prefer luxury in Southern California try the Surf and Sand Resort Laguna Beach. There are options all over California and New York for luxury hotels in this collection. I even found a hotel in Anchorage, Alaska called Hotel Captain Cook that I will be booking a pre/post Alaskan cruise night. I have recently been looking and was surprised how expensive Anchorage was for just one night!
There are also many international hotel options to choose from out of the luxury collection. Mexico has numerous hotels in Cabo San Lucas, Cancun, Acapulco, Ixtapa, Mexico City and more. There are also hotels to check out in other Latin American countries such as Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Peru and many more. In Africa, hotels in Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania for safari travel and exotic destinations Choice hotels are available on points or to purchase.. In the Far East, luxury collections in Japan, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and China can help fill out any far east itinerary.
In my favorite continent of Europe, there are over 100 hotel options in countries such as Italy, Spain, Ireland, the UK, Switzerland and Germany. Paris alone has 7 hotels and even some Nordic countries such as Norway and Sweden and areas in the Czech Republic and Portugal have a hotel or two to book on Choice points. I took a trip down memory lane when I saw the Europe Hotel in Killarney, Ireland where I spent a month of my childhood cementing my love for Europe and riding horses. The top few locations I’ve added to my bucket list are Mykonos Blanc, a beach retreat on Mykonos Island in Greece and one of the many hotels in Barcelona, in the Gothic Quarter, probably Hotel Espana or Serras Barcelona. The Grand Hotel Huis ter Duin is a luxury beach resort on the North Sea near our favorite city of Amsterdam and is on my list of places to stay. Since we changed our last family itinerary and missed the Dutch seaside due to weather, we hope to include it in the next summer or two. Choice Privileges® points making both budget, value and luxury travel dreams both near and far a reality.
Choice Privileges® points are more flexible than ever, now in an exchange program with five airlines including Aer Lingus, AirFrance/KLM, British Airways, Iberia and Turkish Airlines. So now you can book your airfare and hotel on Choice Privileges® points for a complete vacation package. There is even gaming and entertainment at 20+ casino hotels & resorts especially at Ameristar Casinos, Hollywood Casinos and M Resort Spa & Casino. Visit players services to sign up for the PENN Play program during your stay and receive a complimentary status match on your Choice Privileges® membership level. This way all travelers in the family are covered on the type of accommodations they are hoping for with the Choice family of brands.
IHG Hotels
IHG Hotels has recently revamped their IHG One Rewards loyalty program, including its elite members benefits. Members earn points for reward nights without blackout dates, access to member rates & offers, free wi-fi and late check-out on all stays at our properties. There are more than 6,000 properties worldwide and another 1,900 more in the pipeline with 18 brands. IHG properties are most often connected to stays at Holiday Inn branded properties, but also well-known hotel brands and family suites like the Crown Plaza, Even, Garner, Avid, Atwell suites, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites. They also have luxury lines of hotels found internationally such as Intercontinental, Regent, Voco and specialized lines such as the wellness-inspired Six Senses, cheerful Hotel Indigo (opening hundreds more in the next few years) and the boutique line of Kimpton hotels.
Kimpton hotels have a great reputation and the three that I’ve been to are amazing in Amsterdam, Ft. Lauderdale and Denver. I have also heard the most amazing reports about family stays at the Kimpton Seafire in Grand Cayman and Kimpton Roatan on the island in Honduras. Kimpton is a growing boutique brand with 6 properties in Latin America & the Caribbean, 8 properties in Asia, 11 in Europe, 1 in Australia and 56 in North America. Iberostar Beachfront Resorts are the IHG property’s version of beachfront, all inclusive resorts. Iberostar shares the typical all-inclusive locations in Jamaica, Mexico and the Dominican Republic, but also European locations in Greece, Portugal and five resorts in Spain. They even have resorts in some exotic destinations such as Brazil, Montenegro, Morocco and Tunisia.
Some additional incredible IHG destinations include travel experiences and locations from the most enviable places. The InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort is set along a private, sandy bay in Vietnam with rainforest of the Son Tra Mountain Nature Reserve. This hotel even has a full-time zoologist on staff to help visitors learn more about the endangered species. Another great option in Vietnam is Regent Phu Quoc in Phu Quoc which was recently opened and inspires peace and tranquility with koi ponds, bamboo and orchids all around. Try the breakfast buffet with endless options of both Vietnamese and Western dishes, before getting out to explore the areas 28 islands and 20 beaches.
In contrast, the Six Senses Laamu is a wellness focused resort in the Maldives. Spa treatments include massages in overwater pavilions as well as enjoying the views from the deck of your overwater villa. Additionally, activities sponsored by the Institute of Marine Conservation featuring 670 species of sea turtles and 138 kinds of manta rays. Snorkeling with a marine biologist or taking part in a turtle safari will be your daily activities. Another resort option in Raa Atoll, Maldives is the InterContinental Maldives Maamunagau Resort by Hanifanu Bay, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. This resort sits on the clearest lagoon waters in the Maldives and is home to tons of manta rays. This resort is the first all-club InterContinental resort with pool villas, 1-bedroom overwater residence and 2-3-bedroom accommodations with lots of complimentary benefits such as breakfast, afternoon tea and evening aperitifs. This resort is not able to be reserved with IHG points, however booking a stay here will certainly earn you lots of points for future travel.
Two IHG hotels are located Down Under in Australia, the InterContinental Hayman Island Resort in Queensland and Hotel X Brisbane Fortitude Vly in Brisbane. The InterContinental is located on a private island so close to the Great Barrier Reef the property provides reef-safe sunscreen for all guests. This resort’s idyllic location is between a lush jungle and sandy beach where guests can choose between taking a hike (or nap) on a secluded beach or taking a snorkeling trip to a nearby island. The Hotel X has an artsy vibe and the Fortitude Valley is an energetic district to go out in Brisbane. An award-winning Mediterranean rooftop bar is a great place to enjoy an Australian chardonnay and some freshly shucked oysters.
My new bucket list hotel on the IHG list is the Hotel Indigo Galapagos on San Cristobal Island, Ecuador. I visited the Galapagos Islands back in 2004 or so and my experience was so different than I have heard recent visitors describe. I have always wanted to take my family to see this place, to take an exploration cruise visiting the archipelago of islands that all contrast between climate, landscape and species. Snorkeling with the turtle and sea lions, hiking volcanic islands, watching the blue footed boobie, visiting Lonesome George (last tortoise of his species) and observing the night’s sky from the equator. I visited before tourism hit the island, but now there is an amazing hotel for me to check out while visiting the Galapagos Islands. The decor is inspired by the natural elements of the flora & fauna and brings the outdoors inside with green, blue and wood textures. Sea lions, marine iguanas, dolphins, tortoises and tons of birds and fish species are all available to learn about and observe right on the island. The pool deck boasts an infinity pool, jacuzzi and lounge with views for days. Some people have New York City or Miami on their bucket list, I have the Galapagos Islands…for a second time on mine!
The quickest way to earn IHG points is with their two co-branded credit cards, the IHG Rewards Premier and the IHG Traveler cards. These cards have a much higher signup bonuses with a relatively small amount of spend in the first 3 months. The Premier card has an annual fee of $99, but your rewards far out way that low fee. You get a free night stay annually, already worth more than the annual fee. You also earn free anniversary night and a 4th night free on consecutive stays. The points earned on this card are higher in all areas, a $100 toward Global entry or TSA precheck, automatic elite status while being a card holder and no foreign exchange fees, making it a great international travel card with only a $3,000 spend in the first 3 months. The Traveler card is a no-fee card that earns 100,000 bonus points after spending $2,000 in 3 months. The points earned on this card aren’t as high, but they still offer 4th night free on award stays and no foreign exchange fees. Another way to earn more points is by using the dining rewards, partner offers and by completing IHG promotions received by mail or email. All of these reward points can be cashed in to stay at some of the best hotels and resorts in the world.
This summer, on our family trip to Europe, I made my first international IHG hotel redemption in Antwerp, Belgium. The redemption was only for two nights, but with both a double and triple room (all those other families of 5 know the struggle in European hotels) at the Holiday Inn Antwerp. Antwerp is about 45 minutes north of Brussels and honestly the better city to stay in overnight. Brussels does not have that many attractions to see and most of what you do in Brussels is eat things like waffles, chocolate, fries, etc. while walking on the street or perching at a cafe table for a few minutes. Antwerp is significantly less expensive, in terms of hotels, restaurants and parking. The parking at this particular hotel in Antwerp is so convenient. Located literally across the street, the Opera House has a parking garage underneath it. We parked there overnight and took the elevator to the street level, for it to open up to the entrance of our hotel. Parking in European cities is very difficult to say the least, especially with a three row car like we had, so this simple lot was appreciated immensely by the Myers family. The hotel accommodations itself were also nice, although still compact being in a European city. The sheets were soft, there were ample pillows & towels and we were even provided free bottles of water. If they had conditioner in the bathrooms I would’ve thought I was back in the States! In the mornings, a wonderful breakfast of both Euro and American items were in a buffet breakfast area, sitting behind the bar that was in swing during the evenings. I couldn’t have been more excited with my first European points redemption and I see many more in our future!
You don’t have to travel to exotic destinations to enjoy one of the best hotels, the Venetian Las Vegas can be booked on IHG points. The Venetian hotel has two towers of rooms, the Grand Canal Shoppes mall, casino, entertainment venues, restaurants & bars that are all located mid-strip. The Italian themed hotel and the Grand Canal Shoppes have frescos painted on the ceilings, an indoor version of St. Marks Square and both indoor and outdoor gondola rides. Every room in the hotel is a suite and double the size of your average Las Vegas hotel room. There are pool decks at both the Venetian and the Palazzo towers and Tao Dayclub hosts their epic pool parties here as well. Tao Nightclub is found at the Venetian along with lots of entertainment options including the newest venue, the Sphere. There is a 33% off sale currently for booking a Venetian stay this summer, but book quick before summer is over! Start saving your points from simple Holiday Inn hotel stays to fund your next Las Vegas trip on points.
Please check out my website at LauraMarieMyers.com/wanderlust to join my email list (newsletter is coming soon), access full travel blog library and get inspiration for your own travel and adventures. Additionally, check out and follow my Travel Agency Facebook Business Page to book your own travel, excursions and tours. Why use a travel agent? We are travel experts who provide the best vacation or travel experience and will continue to problem solve any unforeseen issue on your trip. Travel agents have access to the best rates and upgrades, without any additional cost to you. Let’s book your next trip today!
